Oh My My My
by xForeverDazzledx
Summary: AU. "Well I was 16 when suddenly, I wasn't that little girl you used to see. But your eyes still shined like pretty lights." The story of two best friends. Sonfic to Mary's Song Oh My My My by Taylor Swift. Channy.
1. Finding Friendship

**So thanks for deciding to read this story! Just so you know this story is a Sonfic to Taylor Swift's Mary's Song (Oh My My My). It's a great song and if you haven't listened to it yet. I suggest you do though it may slightly spoil the story.**

**Also, big thanks to my beta LostInBelieving! She read all 8 pages of this chapter to make sure it was okay. And 8 pages is a lot, which you will see shortly. I'm hoping all my other chapters will be around this length, but we'll have to see. So enough of my rambling, enjoy the story!**

**Chapter 1**

A little girl stepped out of a car, clutching a box of toys. They had pulled up in front of their new house in California. The little girl and her family had just moved from Wisconsin.

"Sonny, what do you think of the house?" her dad asked.

Sonny smiled widely, looking up at the house in awe. "It's amazing!" she exclaimed, heading towards the door.

A little boy stared out of his bedroom window, watching the new neighbors. He was sad when he first heard the news that the family that lived there once before was moving. His babysitter had lived there and the little boy looked up to him like a big brother. But he had to go away to college, and his parents had no use for a big house.

"Chad! Come downstairs!" the boys mom called, "We're going to meet the new neighbors! I'm pretty sure there's a little girl that's your age there!"

Chad grumbled to himself and reluctantly shuffled his way down the stairs. He didn't care about the stupid new neighbors.

_**She said, 'I was seven and you were nine**_

The moment Sonny got into her new house, she ran upstairs. Her parents said she could pick whatever room she wanted besides the master one and let the leftover one be the guest room.

After carefully inspecting each room, she picked the one the far side of the house with a window facing the neighbors. The roof stuck out under creating almost a private balcony. Not that she'd be able to go up there. She _was_ only seven. But she liked imagining it.

"Sonny! Come down stairs for a second!" her mom called.

Satisfied with her choice, Sonny ran down the stairs back to her mom. "What is it mommy?"

"Our next door neighbors are here to say hi! Come outside!"

Sonny slipped her shoes back on and walked to her mother's side.

"Sonny, this is Chad," her mom said "He's a couple years older then you, but I think you'll get along fine."

"Hi Chad!" the little girl greeted. She was very excited to be making a new friend on her first day in California.

"Hi," the little boy grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Chad, why don't you take Sonny to the tree house in the back yard," his mom suggested.

Chad uncrossed his arms, holding them out at his sides in defense, "But that's me and Seth's clubhouse! No girls allowed!"

"Chad, Seth's in college now. He's not going to be back for awhile. Now be nice. Maybe you and Sonny can start a new club."

He huffed, "Fine. C'mon." He started walking to the back of his house while Sonny followed eagerly behind him.

Their backyard was small, but was backed by a large forest. The largest tree was right at the edge and on it sat a shed-like building painted in a variety of bright colors.

"This is it," Chad said.

Sonny's jaw dropped as she gazed at the magnificent building. She had always wanted a tree house, but none of the trees in her backyard were big enough. Plus her dad was never home long enough to help her build one. He was always busy with work.

"How do we get up?" she asked, dropping her gaze from the tree house to look at Chad.

"I never said we were going up," he told her, "My mom just told me to take you to the tree house. We're here, so now you can go back to your parents."

Sonny's bright expression fell. "Oh. Okay." She turned around and started walking back to her house.

Chad had seen the look in the girl's eyes when she saw the tree house. She had been so excited and when he was looking at her smile, he couldn't be upset anymore, no matter how much he wanted to be. And when he saw such a delighted face fall, he wanted to kick himself for making the girl sad. He wanted to see her happy so he could see that bright smile again.

"Wait, Sonny, come back!" he called.

She turned back to him, clearly confused. "What?"

"I changed my mind. You can come up."

Chad had never been so happy to make another person happy in his life. Sonny smiled at him again and the feeling he got from it was one of the greatest things in the world. He felt warm inside and it was like nothing but seeing the smile turn into a frown could bring him down.

He led her over to the base of the tree where chunks of wood were nailed to the trunk forming a ladder. "You can go up first."

Sonny looked up at the tree house. It was much higher up here then it was when she was looking at it from a distance. Suddenly she wasn't so sure if she wanted to climb up to the top anymore. It was just so _tall_. All the bad scenarios that could come from falling were swirling through her head. "I'm not sure if I wanna go up anymore."

Chad noticed the scared look on her face and was compelled to comfort her. He was still so confused. Nobody had ever caused him to act this way before. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's so tall. What if I fall down?" Her voice was filled with worry when she spoke.

"You're not going to fall," he reassured, "But if you do, I'll be right behind ready to catch you." He smiled at her, hoping his smile would have the same effect on her that hers had on him.

It seemed to work, because she took a deep breath and started climbing. Slowly but steadily she made her way up the tree. She was more then half way up when she looked back to make sure Chad was climbing behind her. As promised, he was, only a few rungs behind. But it wasn't Chad who made Sonny stop climbing. It was the view. Particularly the ground. And how far away the ground was from her.

"Chad…"

"Yeah?"

"We're _really_ far off the ground right now."

"Well, we're almost to the top now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just keep going." He wanted to yell at her to stop being such a baby, but something stopped him. Sonny just wasn't the kind of person you could be mean to because in the end you were just hurting yourself more then her. Chad had never met anyone like that before and the fact somewhat annoyed him. It just added to the confusion of Sonny.

Sonny took one last look at Chad and then looked up to the tree house. He was right. There were only four rungs of the ladder left and then she would be at the porch that stuck out in front of the door. She mustered up all of her courage and climbed up the last of the ladder.

Once at the top, she was relieved to feel solid ground at her feet. She had done it. She was at the top of the tree house. She hadn't felt this proud since she took the bus for the first time in kindergarten. Chad had gotten to the top now, and she couldn't help but run up and give him a hug.

"Thank you," she said to him.

Chad was slightly taken aback, but wrapped his arms around her anyway. He had never hugged a girl that wasn't family before. His friends James from school had always said girls had cooties, so he had stayed away, even though he wasn't really sure what cooties were.

Sonny let go and Chad couldn't help but ask, "What was that for?"

She flashed him that smile he had come to love so much in the past five minutes and said, "You helped me face my fears."

"So you hugged me?"

She shrugged, "Yeah. Why, do you not like hugs?"

"No, I just don't normally hug anyone besides my mom and dad," he explained.

"Well, I hug my friends a lot so you should get used to it."

"Wait, were friends now?"

Sonny nodded, "I think so. You wouldn't let someone who wasn't your friend up here, right?"

"Guess not."

"Then I must be your friend. C'mon, let's go inside!" She skipped to the door while Chad followed behind.

When the little girl stepped inside, she was struck with even more awe then before. What may have been a simple layout to any other kid was like a scene from a dream to Sonny. There was a small wood table with two chairs that was home to two coffee cans full of crayons and pencils and a box holding blank sheets of paper. Drawings were hung all over the room, some signed by Chad and others too good to be done by a nine year old. On the opposite side of the room was a book shelf filled with various toys, and next to it sat a trunk full of dress up clothes. It was just how Sonny always imagined a tree house to be.

"Let's play something!" Sonny exclaimed.

"Well what do you want to play?" Chad asked.

"Let's play castle!" she said, pulling out a knight's hat that had been sitting on top of all the clothes in the bin.

Chad was prepared to object. That had been his favorite game to play with Seth. Seth would pretend to be a princess and Chad would be the knight who had to go save him. He would always end up laughing to hard to save him though, because it was nearly impossible to keep a straight face when a tall high school boy was wearing a pink hat yelping "Save me!" in a sorry attempt of a girly voice. Seth always came up with the greatest games of pretend when he was over. But by looking at Sonny's enthusiastic expression, he had a feeling she would have an imagination that could out run his old babysitters by a mile.

"That sounds fun. How about you be the princess and I'll be the knight?"

"Okay! This can be my castle that I'm trapped in and you have to come save me!"

"Okay, just let me put on my knight costume." He took the helmet out of Sonny's hand and placed it over his head. He then pulled out a belt which he put on and then a plastic sword which could be stored in the belt. Last he pulled out a shield and a pink hat. "For you," he said, handing Sonny the hat.

"Thank you."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" He reached behind the costume bin and pulled out two wooden sticks that had plush horse heads on top. "I'll put yours at the bottom of the castle."

He tucked the two horses under his arms and started climbing down the ladder. Once at the bottom, he put down Sonny's horse, mounted his own, and started galloping around.

Suddenly Sonny's voice could be heard ringing through the air, "Help me! Somebody help me! I'm stuck in this tower and the dragon won't let me get out! Please help me!"

"I'll save you!" He started galloping back towards the base of the "castle". He dropped his horse next to Sonny's and called up, "Are you okay princess?"

"I'm okay but I can't get down! You'll have to slay the dragon to come get me oh brave knight!"

Chad pulled out his sword, "So where is this great beast?"

Sonny pointed to the left, "Over there! It's the big purple creature who's breathing fire!"

Chad looked over and pretended to look shocked, but then determined. "I will slay him!"

He held out his sword and started to run towards the imaginary dragon.

"He ya! Ya!" He was slashing and jabbing his sword around doing anything in his power to kill the monster. He would jerk to the left or right sometimes in order to dodge the dragon's attacks.

"He's almost dead!" Sonny shouted, "Finish him!"

Chad took one final jab at the dragon and then yelled in victory, "I did it! I slayed him!"

Sonny was cheering from the balcony of the tree house.

The boy ran back to the tower, placing his sword back in his belt. He climbed up the ladder as fast as he could until he finally reached his princess.

Sonny was thrilled to have Chad back to save her. This had been one of the greatest games of castle she had ever played. None of her friends back at home ever got really into the game like she did. They always wanted to do something else, like play with dolls. And when only one person was really trying, the game wasn't the same. But Chad had given the role his all. When she watched him try to slay the dragon, she truly saw the great beast fighting back at him. Now, standing right here in front of her, she could see a look of true pride on his face and it made her so happy that someone finally understood just how to play her favorite game.

She looked directly into his deep blue eyes, one of them seeming to sparkle in the sunlight and said, "Thank you Sir Chad! You saved me!" And she wasn't just thanking him for slaying the dragon. She was thanking him for saving her from thinking that there was no one else like her. Now she knew that there were people like her who would truly become the character they were playing. Chad wasn't like her old friends. He was better.

_**I looked at you like the stars that shined  
**__**In the sky, the pretty lights**_

"You're welcome!" he said. He was smiling so wide his cheeks were starting to hurt. It was a combination of seeing Sonny's smile again and finally finishing a game of castle without cracking up in the middle of it. He was about to start taking off his knight costume when Sonny started speaking again.

"Now we must ride our steeds through the woods back to my castle so I can properly thank you," she told him.

Chad was a little confused. His game never went this far before, but he liked where it was going. He decided to keep playing along to see where Sonny's imagination would lead him.

"After you My Lady," he said, stepping aside so she could start climbing down the ladder.

Sonny took one look down and suddenly her worried thoughts from earlier came flooding back, "Um, how about you go first."

Chad recognized the scared look on Sonny's face. "Oh, right. Sorry." He started climbing down and Sonny came right after him.

Once Chad reached the ground, he offered a hand to Sonny who was still three rungs up the ladder. She gratefully grabbed it and hopped down, feeling a whole new brand of relief knowing she was on real solid ground now.

Chad picked up the two horses and handed one to Sonny.

"Will you lead the way to the castle? I've been stuck in this tower so long I can't remember how to get back home."

Chad nodded, "Of course, princess. Just follow me!" The pair started galloping through the woods.

Chad knew the forest pretty well. He and Seth had explored it many times. Even though his castle games never took him to the woods, he knew exactly where Sonny's palace would be. If you kept going straight back you would hit a creek that ran parallel to the houses. Across from it sat two big boulders with a flatter one sitting on top forming a cave. If he could find a way to get across the river, it would be the perfect spot.

They rode along, Chad pointing out roots not to trip over and holding back large bushes when needed as a good knight would do. After a three minute journey, they had made it to the creek.

"There it is," Chad said, pointing across to the cave.

"Thank you so much Sir Chad! But how are we gonna cross the river?"

Chad was stumped. He had three options in his head, but they were all difficult. "Well, either we jump, we walk through the water, or we build a bridge."

Sonny didn't seem to think to hard about the situation. "Let's build a bridge!"

"Okay. Can you help me find some big logs we can use?"

"Sure!"

They started scanning the ground around them, looking for fallen branches. They managed to find two and Chad used all the strength his nine year old body had to drag them to the river and place them across. The bridge wasn't much, but it was enough to get both of them across the river, safe and dry. And with the imaginations they two of them had, they could make it to be anything they wanted it to be.

They galloped over the bridge and into the cave.

"Welcome to my castle, Sir Chad!" Sonny said.

Chad pretended to be admiring a wonderful palace and replied, "It's amazing!"

"Thank you," she responded. "Will getting to live here for as long as you'd like to be a worthy repayment for your saving of me?"

He smiled, "Of course Princess Sonny. That would be perfect!"

"So what do you want to do now," she asked, "There's plenty to do in my castle."

"Well you know it better than I do. How about you lead the way?"

For the rest of the day, Chad and Sonny played their game of castle together. When each of them would come up with a new idea to add to the game, the other would follow along perfectly and by the end of it all, they were both convinced that they were living in their own kingdom. Soon though, the sun began to set and twilight took over their enchanted forest.

"I think we need to go back now," Chad said, "I can't find my way home in the dark." He could tell by the look on Sonny's face that she wasn't ready to go.

"Can we please stay for a little longer?" Sonny begged. She put on her best puppy dog pout which made it even harder for Chad to resist.

"Well, you live next door now, we can play some more tomorrow," he told her. That was all it took to brighten her expression again.

"Let's ride our horses back!" she said eagerly. Just because it was time to leave the forest didn't mean that the game had to end right then and there.

So like the end of every great fairytale, the brave knight and his princess rode off into the sunset. But this wasn't the end of their story. This was only the beginning.

* * *

**Okay, so that's it for Chapter 1! Chapter 2 is already in the works, but if you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know in a review or PM!**


	2. Fourth Of July

**A/N- I'm so sorry this took so long to update! School has been crazy all this month. But I'm on break now so I'm hoping to get up one more chapter before I'm back at school. Once again, huge thanks to my beta **_**LostInBelieving**_**!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Summer went by and Sonny and Chad's friendship began to grow bigger than their imaginations. There was never a day when they weren't outside together_. Even _when it rained they would just continue their games inside.

It was Fourth of July now and in honor of the holiday they were playing war. It was Chad's idea. He had pulled out a pair of water guns and the game took off from there. The tree house was Chad's fort which Sonny was trying to take over.

"This is my fort!" Chad yelled, squirting Sonny directly in the stomach. They had both raced to put their bathing suits on when Chad had confronted her with the water gun idea. Mrs. Cooper had even filled up a tub of water balloons which they decided would be bombs.

Sonny gasped as the stream of water splashed her middle. But she regained her composure, stuck out her gun and said, "Not for long." She then held down the trigger and sent another stream of water right at Chad's face.

While Chad frantically rubbed his eyes to rid them from water, Sonny made a break for the tree house ladder. "You'll never catch me!" she shouted. But her sudden outburst blew her cover. Chad forced his eyes open and darted towards the ladder, now ignoring the slight stinging sensation in his eyes left over from the water. He threw himself in front of the ladder and Sonny, who was still running, smacked right into him. She fell backward from the impact and Chad hit his head on the trunk of the tree. Instead of crying like many kids of their ages would after enduring an accident, the two doubled over laughing.

Sonny reached for her gun which she had dropped before the fall and pulled herself up.

"Ew!" she shrieked. Her wet body had picked up shreds of grass and bits of dirt and she was covered in it.

This caused Chad to laugh even harder. "Just spray it off with your gun!" he told her.

"I'm not wasting my ammo!"

Suddenly Chad remembered his secret weapon he had stored in his fort. He wasn't sure that this was a worthy enough cause to use it one, but Sonny wasn't happy and therefore he wasn't happy. He was willing to do anything to get her to smile again, though he wasn't sure if she would be too happy about his cleaning methods.

"Just stand right there, I know what to do." He picked up his gun and scurried up the ladder to the top of the tree. He dropped his gun and pulled a bright red balloon out of a grocery bag he had secretly brought up before starting the game. He then reached over the railing and dropped the balloon right over Sonny's head.

"Look out below!" he yelled.

Sony shrieked again as the balloon broke over her head. "I hate you!" she shouted. Grabbing her gun she ran back up the tree and after him.

Chad silenced his laughter, ready to apologize to the upset girl. But when she reached the top, her face didn't show the sad expression he dreaded so much, No, this face was worse. Her brown eyes seemed to be just a shade darker then the black middle, blending in and showing a hint of an evil glare. A smirk sat where Chad was expecting a frown.

Sonny grabbed his squirt gun before he could and aimed them both at him.

Chad was no longer concerned with seeing Sonny smile again. The only thing he was worried about now was his life. With the expression she wore, the brown locks sticking to her face, and the two guns pointed at him she was the most terrifying seven year old he had seen in his nine years of living.

"Sonny," he said slowly, "think before you do this."

"Okay." A split second later she pulled both triggers soaking him with water.

With no line of defense left but the water balloons, he grabbed two and started popping them over her head.

They squealed, laughed, and screamed until the balloons were gone and the guns were empty. They were both dripping wet and covered in multi-colored bits of plastic at this point.

"You know," Chad said, "the rest of the water balloons are sitting on the patio…"

Without a word they ran for the ladder fighting to get down first. Once on the ground they sprinted towards the patio, a bright blue container only a few strides away, but were forced to a halt when Mrs. Cooper stepped in front of them.

"Whoa, slow down you two!" she told them, "Go dry off and take a seat at the picnic table. Mr. Munroe and Mr. Cooper are almost done barbequing."

"C'mon, the towels are inside," Chad said, walking towards the back door. Sonny followed behind obediently.

Meanwhile by the grill, the parents were emerged in their own conversations.

"Those two are quite the pair," Mr. Munroe commented.

"It won't be too long before my son is asking out your daughter," Mr. Cooper added.

Mr. Munroe chuckled, "My Sonny dating an older boy? Chad better not break her heart or he'll be hearing from me."

The two men laughed because they truly didn't believe it would happen.

_**And our Daddy's used to joke about the two of usGrowing up and falling in love**_

The eavesdropping mothers rolled their eyes, laughing a bit themselves.

"Two grown, married men, with kids and they still don't know love when they see it," Mrs. Munroe sighed.

"I can't wait for it to finally happen," Mrs. Cooper said, "They're going to make the cutest couple."

"Just give them some time. It'll happen soon enough."

_**And our Mama's smiledAnd rolled their eyesAnd said, 'Oh my my my.**_'

Chad and Sonny were back outside too late to hear a word that their parents said. But even if they had been able to hear the conversations, they were too caught up in each other to bother listening.

Chad was shaking his head sending his blonde hair everywhere and spraying Sonny with beads of water. Sonny squealed and laughed as the cools bursts chilled her skin. Chad would then stop and start laughing along with her. Much like her smile, Sonny's laugh was contagious and addictive. It was music to his ears and he couldn't help but laugh along with her when he heard it.

"Come on you two, the food's getting cold!" Mrs. Munroe called.

Sonny eagerly galloped over while Chad followed behind, still laughing.

"Wait! Let me take your picture first!" Mrs. Cooper urged.

"Awe, mom, but I'm hungry now," Chad whined.

"It will only take two seconds!"

Chad sighed, "Fine."

"Now get close together."

Sonny, who adored getting her picture taken, scooted closer to Chad and put her arms around his shoulders. For some reason the simple movement felt natural and familiar even though she hadn't really done it before. She didn't think too long about it, and smiled brightly for the camera. Chad followed Sonny's action and put his arm around her also noticing the strange feeling. He smiled also simply because it was impossible not to look happy while standing next to the happiest person in the world.

The camera flashed and as soon as Chad was positive the photo had been captured he ran over to the dads by the grill so he could get his food and start eating.

Sonny laughed, "How does he eat so much?"

Mrs. Cooper smile, "He's a boy. All boys eat a lot. Especially as they get older."

She looked over at her husband who was preparing two over-stuffed hamburgers for himself.

Sonny giggled and skipped over to get food for her self.

Soon the food was gone and the sun was disappearing with it. The families went back to their designated houses so their children could change out of their damp bathing suits and grab sweatshirts before heading back outside.

The families now sat in the Munroe backyard where a fire had been started in a special pit Mr. Munroe had bought for the patio. The flames flickered illuminating the setting as the only light source besides the moon and the stars.

Sonny had brought out marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate to make one of her favorite treats from back home.

"Chad, wanna make s'mores?" she asked eagerly.

"Sure, but I don't know how to make one."

Sonny's draw dropped and her eyes got huge. "You've _never_ made a s'more before?"

"Nope," he admitted.

"Well, that's gonna change tonight!" she exclaimed, "Come with me, we have to find roasting sticks!" She grabbed the flashlight she had brought out with the food and grabbed Chad's hand dragging him towards the forest.

They got to the edge and Sonny switched on her flashlight, panning over the ground with it. "You need to find one that's long and doesn't have branches on it," she explained, "Like this one!" she picked up a stick that fir her description perfectly.

"What about this one?" Chad asked, picking up another one.

Sonny shone the flashlight on it and examined it carefully. "There're too many little branches on it," she told him.

He rapidly began breaking them off, "Is this better?"

She was in a bit of shock by his quick actions, but he had turned the shoddy branch into the perfect marshmallow roasting stick. "Perfect."

Soon after, the pair was back by the fire topping their new found sticks with white.

Chad, figuring roasting a marshmallow would be easy, didn't bother asking Sonny for help.

Sonny however recognized a mistake Chad made the minute he had his stick in the fire.

"Don't put it near the top of the flame!" she warned. But it was too late. Chad removed the marshmallow from the fire pit to find the white cylinder enveloped in flames. He frantically waved it around, blowing on it while Sonny laughed at his misery.

"My dad says you have to put it near the hot embers at the base of the fire, not the actual flames," she explained, using her own stick as an example. Her marshmallow slowly turned to a toasty brown.

Chad attempted to follow Sonny's lead but still managed to set the marshmallow on fire even when it wasn't in the flames.

"Here, you take mine," Sonny offered, "I'll make another one."

"No!" he snapped. Sonny jumped, so he lightened his tone, "I can do it by myself."

"Okay. Just don't burn all the marshmallows." She smirked and went to go build her s'more.

Sonny watched in amusement as Chad tried and failed to make the perfect marshmallow. Sonny had managed to make and eat two s'mores before Chad had even made one. Many burnt marshmallows later though, the nine year old was finally satisfied.

"Do you want me to teach you how to make a s'more too?" Sonny asked.

"No, I can do it," he assured. And he was right. This time it only took him one try to get it right.

"Told ya I could make it by myself," he said, taking a bite of the sandwich treat.

"Took you long enough," Sonny muttered under her breath.

"Hey I heard that!"

"Well its true," she giggled.

Suddenly a boom and a crackle sounded through the air. The two children looked up to see colored sparks raining down and then fading away.

"Fireworks!" Sonny squealed. She stood up and ran towards her driveway dragging Chad along with her. He shoved the rest of the s'more in his mouth before running without her help.

A few houses down, a group of teenagers were lighting firecrackers in the middle of the street while their parents stood on the curb, emerged in their own conversations. A small flame would light and the teenager would run away the second it lit. Then a burst of light would shoot up shrieking and then explode in mid air before fading away.

Sonny and Chad sat at the edge of the driveway gazing at the sparkling lights bursting right over their heads.

"I've never seen 'em this close before," Sonny awed.

"The Brown's light fireworks every year for fourth of July. They said I can come over any time I want and light some. I want to, but Mom won't let me. She says I'm too young," he huffed, "I'm hoping next year when I'm ten they'll let me."

"Aren't you afraid? What if you explode with the fireworks?" she asked, worried about her friend.

"I'm not gonna explode. That's why you run away." As if on cue another teenager could be seen running from the firework he had just lit.

"But what if you're not fast enough?"

"Oh, I'm fast enough," he explained, "I won all the running races at recess last year."

"Oh, okay. I just really don't want you to explode."

Chad smiled, "Me neither."

They both laughed quietly to themselves.

Suddenly Sonny's eyes began to get heavy. She found herself blinking much more often then she needed to while she tried to watch the fireworks.

"I'm tired," she said through a yawn. She absentmindedly rested her head on Chad's shoulder, far too tired to get up and go inside.

Chad was surprised at the sudden action, but for some reason he didn't mind it. He couldn't tell if she was asleep or not, but the slight smile on her face showed she was resting peacefully. He didn't want to wake her and wipe away the angelic expression on her face. Out of all the different smiles he had seen on Sonny, he decided that this one was his favorite. She had this sort of innocence to her while she was sleeping. She was no longer the bubbly, confident, and hyper girl of the daylight. She was calmer now, and he liked it that way.

Soon the fireworks stopped and Chad found his eye lids drooping down, too. He rested his head on top of Sonny's and drifted off to sleep.

Behind them, at the top of the driveway, two mothers were watching their children in awe.

"They're so adorable," Mrs. Munroe said, "I don't want to wake them up, but they can't sleep outside.

"I have my camera, I'll take a picture," Mrs. Cooper said. She captured the moment, and when the camera flashed the two children didn't even budge.

Mrs. Munroe sighed, "I guess we need to take them inside now."

"They will be having more moments like this as they get older," Mrs. Cooper reminded her. "Just be glad we can ruin them without a fight now. It's going to be harder when they're older.

Mrs. Munroe chuckled, "I guess you're right."

The mothers took their children to their designated houses, leaving them to sleep peacefully in their beds. But they were unaware of the fact that they would never sleep as peacefully as they were on the curb that night. Not for awhile anyway.

* * *

**A/N- More cuteness, I know. Just give the story some time, drama is coming, I promise :D**

**So if you have absolutely nothing to do after reading this go ask me questions on my formspring, read my other stories, check out my YouTube channels. Links on my profile.**

**Still bored? Do the same thing for LostInBelieving! Link to her profile on my profile.**

**Still really bored? Go on the Sonny With A Chance main website and play So Sketchy! (It's so much fun, haha). And then go vote for the New Years Eve Stuff (Chad and Sonny are up for cutest couple!)**

**But before you do all that, please review!**


	3. Last Day of Summer

A/N- Sorry for not updating as fast as I said I would guys. I was so excited to write Chapter 4 that this one was hard to force out. But I did it :D So enjoy!

And thanks again to _LostInBelieving_ for being my beta!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Summer came and went and by September Sonny and Chad were back in school. Chad would be starting 4th grade while Sonny would be the new girl starting 2nd grade. She had spent every moment of her summer with Chad, so she didn't get the chance to make some friends her own age. But she wasn't too nervous. Using her bubbly personality to make friends quickly was a talent she knew she was skilled in.

"What's our school like?" Sonny asked Chad on the last day of summer. They were up in the tree house eating snacks.

_**Take me back to the house in the backyard tree**_

"School's horrible," he told her, biting into an Oreo.

Sonny was concerned now. She was so convinced that school would be great. After all, her first summer in California had turned out to be much better than she ever expected.

"Why?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "It's school. School's boring."

"But 1st grade was lots of fun! Isn't 2nd grade the same?" she asked.

"The work gets harder every year," he explained, "The only good parts are recess and lunch. But in fifth grade you get to do a play, so that's probably fun too."

"How much recess time do you get?"

"It depends on the teacher. 2nd graders usually get recess everyday."

Sonny smiled. "Well that doesn't sound bad. Why don't you like school?"

Chad sighed, "I told ya, it's boring. I'd rather be outside playing with you."

"But won't I see you at recess?"

"Maybe. If we're lucky. But even then it's only an hour. Usually less. That's only enough time for the dragon to kidnap you! I won't be able to save you!"

This made Sonny frown. Suddenly she wasn't excited for school anymore. Suddenly she wanted it to be summer forever. She couldn't imagine a day where she wasn't with Chad playing games of pretend until it was too dark to be outside. School was just six hours of the day being wasted. Not to mention homework.

The thought of her perfect world being destroyed by something she couldn't control was mind boggling. Soon she felt a bead of water forming in her eyes and rolling down her face.

"I don't think I want to go to school anymore," she whispered.

Chad looked over and immediately saw Sonny's tear stained cheeks. "Wait, are you crying? Please don't cry it's really not as bad as I said…" But his words weren't helping. The tears continued to roll, hurting Chad a little more with every one. Sonny frowning was like a day at the beach compared to her crying. He was compelled to make it stop, but he didn't know how. He never needed to make someone stop crying before.

"But it is," Sonny sobbed, "This has been the greatest summer ever and now its over. All because of stupid school."

He watched helplessly as she continued crying over something that seemed so pointless. It was then when a memory washed over him.

_He was Sonny's age, sitting in bed in the middle of the night sobbing. He had just awoken from the most terrible nightmare and the scenes kept flooding back through mind, scaring him more with every flashback._

_Soon enough, his mom heard his sobs and sat on his bed next to him. "What's wrong honey? Did you have a bad dream?"_

_He didn't speak. He just nodded. She didn't say anything after that either. She just did what all good mothers do. She hugged her son and gave him a shoulder to cry on. That was all he needed. Soon his tears ran dry and his nightmare was forgotten. His mom whispered good night, then left the room and he slept peacefully until morning. It didn't take much to comfort his seven year old self. He just needed to know that there was someone there that would always take care of him._

Chad came out of his flashback and looked over at Sonny who still had tears streaming down her face. He knew that he was no mother, but he gave her a hug anyway. She gratefully accepted, burying her face into his shoulder, staining it with water. But he didn't care. All he cared about was getting to see his favorite smile again.

Soon enough, his comforting worked and she had stopped crying.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Now let's not waste the rest of the day sitting in this house. I have a new game to play, but we gotta go to my garage and get stuff first."

"What's the game?" she asked, the sadness in her voice nearly gone. She used her sleeve to wipe away the tracks of leftover water the tears had left.

"I'll tell you in a minute," he told her, standing up. He offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet. Then they scurried down the ladder and headed to Chad's garage.

He walked to the back of the area where all of his toys and sports equipment were held and began handing random objects to Sonny: soccer balls, hula hoops, and roller skates. Sonny was completely lost, but she trusted that whatever Chad was up to would be brilliant.

"Can you tell me now?" Sonny begged, taking a hockey stick out of Chad's hands.

"We're playing Olympics!" Chad exclaimed, finally turning to face Sonny after having his back to her for the entire time he gathered up the equipment.

Sonny smiled. It all made sense now. All the equipment would be used for different competitions. "Awesome! What are we gonna do first?"

Chad smiled back, admiring the feeling he always got we he made his best friend smile. "I was thinking we should start with a race. Whoever can get from the patio to the top of the tree house first wins."

"Let's go," she said, skipping towards the patio. Chad followed behind her.

"Just don't be too upset when you lose," he told her.

_**Said you'd beat me up you were bigger than me**_

Sonny smirked, "Please. _You're_ the one who is gonna lose."

"Sonny, I was the fastest kid in 3rd grade, prob'ly 4th grade too. _And_ I'm bigger than you. And I'm a boy."

"Well we'll just have to see," she said, getting slightly annoyed at his comments, but preparing to prove him wrong.

"Alright. On your mark…. getsetGO!" he shouted. Chad started sprinting right away, having the advantage of knowing exactly when 'go' would be called.

"Hey!" Sonny yelled, running as fast as she could, but barely catching up to her competitor.

Chad just ignored her, too caught up in his run to process anything else going on.

Sonny kept running, forcing her tiny legs to move as fast as they possibly could. But Chad was right. He was bigger and faster. The gap between them gradually began to increase.

Chad was nearing the tree now. He was more than halfway there. Only a few more strides and he would be at the trunk of the tree. Then all he needed to do was climb up and he would be the winner.

He looked over his shoulder to glance at Sonny, whom he expected was right on his tail. To his surprise though, she was quite far back, pushing herself to the limit and visibly showing a determined expression.

The fact that Chad was running forward while looking backward was enough for him to slow his pace down, but looking at Sonny had made him think.

Just twenty minutes ago he had experienced one of the worst things possible: his best friend in tears. And though he was still not so sure on why this was the worst thing that happened to him, he knew one thing for sure. There was no way he was going to let it happen again.

Not that losing would make Sonny cry again. Though the young girl seemed to be completely sweet and innocent on the outside, Chad knew her better than that. He knew that Sonny was also strong and would just say she'd beat him next time.

Chad took another look at Sonny and then started thinking about how the determined look would look as a victorious look. He imagined her face lighting up brighter than in any of his memories. And just the thought of seeing this glorious smile made him grin. If an imaginary image in his head could make him feel this good, then what would the real thing do to him?

That vision was the deciding factor. He had already noticed Sonny catching up as he slowed down during his brief period of intense thinking. Instead of speeding up to take home the gold, he kept at his slower, steadier pace, becoming more and more anxious as the rhythmic sound of Sonny's running and heavy breathing began to get louder and louder.

Chad was literally only two steps away from the ladder when she finally passed him up. She grabbed the ladder and fast as she could, and swiftly climbed up even though he couldn't really beat her at this point anyway.

"Yes!" Sonny cheered once pulling herself up to the top. Chad was up shortly after. "Told ya I would beat you," she boasted. But Chad didn't mind putting up with her pride, because even though he was wrong about winning the race, he had been right about something. How amazing Sonny's smile would be. Her excitement over her dramatic win had made it even brighter than Chad had imagined. It was like he had gained the greatest prize just by losing.

_**You never did. You never did.**_

"Congrats," he said to Sonny, "that was a great come back." He stuck out his hand, and she accepted it, shaking it once.

Then she asked, "So what's next on the agenda?"

"Well, I think since you won, you should pick," he told her.

Sonny continued smiling, "The equipments back on the patio. Race you back?"

The offer was very tempting, but Chad declined, "Let's just walk."

The rest of the day was spent using the equipment to play their version of the Olympic Games. They started out with traditional competitions, but eventually began combining equipment from different sports to come up with their own games. There was no stopping the power of their imaginations when they were together.

Soon the air began to chill, and the sky was painted into a mixture of orange, pink, and purple as the sun dipped into the horizon. The cleaned up all their toys and began to make their way home to their calling parents just as the first stars began twinkling in the night.

"So I guess I'll see you at the bus stop tomorrow?" Sonny said.

Chad sighed, suddenly remembering that he would be in school in less than twelve hours. "Guess so."

Then the two parted ways, both wishing that the summer wouldn't come to an end.

* * *

**A/N- Shorter than normal, I know. This chapter was more of a filler than anything. I'm sticking to the lyrics of the song exactly, so it was necessary.**

**Also, did anyone catch the new WOWP episode "Wizards vs. Werewolves"? Because it was absoluley amazing! I was tearing up at the end, haha.**

**And who's excited for the new SWAC episode? I have no clue when it will air, but it keeps getting harder not to read the script for it that was leaked. So please no spoilers if you read it already.**

**Reviews please!**


	4. Together

**A/N- I'm really really really really sorry this took so long! But I worked for four nights in a row on this and at about 3,675 words it's the longest chapter this story has seen so far. I hope it makes up for my lack of updating!**

**Chapter 4**

School started and though Sonny and Chad couldn't play as much as they used to, they still did everything in their power to play when they got home. They even resulted to doing homework together when it seemed there would be no time left to have fun.

They also spent as much time as they could at school. Every Friday it seemed that the entire school was outside for recess. Chad and Sonny had developed a new plan for playing their games at school. Instead of trying to complete an entire episode in one hour, they just stopped where they were and continued to play next time they met on the playground. Their longest game started in January and by April it was still in full swing. The playground equipment made for the perfect spaceships. They pretended they were astronauts. Being astronauts, they discovered new planets, got abducted by aliens, and even started a galactic war.

They were sitting in the section of the playground that Chad and Sonny considered their spaceship. It was the oldest piece of equipment the school and the other children rarely used it. It was a single platform about five feet off the ground with a red-rusted ladder as the only way up. A fireman's pole was on one side, layers of its previous paint coats chipping off. Then there was the dented metal slide that shook when you slid down. On the fourth side were metal bars acting as a barrier with a wooden steering wheel attached that gave you splinters if you held on to it for too long. Most kids were turned off by its ancient qualities, but Sonny and Chad thought it was perfect. The fact that no one would interrupt their game was an added bonus.

They were both on the platform, Chad spinning the steering wheel and Sonny playing backseat driver.

"Watch out for that asteroid!" Sonny yelled.

Chad jerked the wheel and they both leaned to the left as if the force of a sharp turn had made them do so.

"Thanks," he responded, sounding relieved.

"I think that's planet Zegablon over there!" she exclaimed, pointing out into the distance. A bystander would have thought she was pointing at a lone oak tree in the middle of the field, but Chad was in imagination mode. He saw a black canvas dotted with bright white stars, with a purple sphere that kept getting bigger as the ship flew closer. He leaned forward as if that made his ship go faster.

"Almost there," he told her, his blue eyes never leaving the space in front of him.

Suddenly Sonny gasped, he brown hair whipping her face as the quickly looked to the right, "I think that's an alien ship. They're trying to stop us from getting on Zegablon! You have to move out of its way or it will zap us with its lasers and we'll be their prisoners! Or worse!"

"Don't worry," Chad stated with confidence, "I'll get us there safely."

They were about to begin their epic journey to Zegablon when a whistle rang, signaling the end of recess.

"Aww," Sonny groaned.

"See you after school," Chad said glumly, making his way towards the slide.

"Yeah, see ya," Sonny sighed before sliding down the fireman's pole.

They walked silently towards the flow of students, Sonny waving one last goodbye before lining up with her classmates.

The rest of the day seemed to go on forever. It was one of those days where the weather was just perfect and sitting in a classroom for half the day seemed completely pointless. Her mind kept drifting away from the lesson being taught. What was she supposed to be learning right now? Addition? Subtraction? She didn't even care at this point. She just kept her eyes on the clock, waiting for her principal to come on the loudspeaker and announce that the busses were here. She had no idea what time that would be. Heck, she could barely read the analog clock and figure out what time it was. That was a first grade lesson her teacher had yet to review in class this year. Did the clock say 12:10? Or was it 2:00? The sighed and kept watching the second hand as it made endless laps around the circle every sixty seconds. She even let her mind drift away into subconscious day dreams.

What would her and Chad play today after school? Would they continue their game of astronauts/space-warriors? Or did Chad have too much homework to come outside today?

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

Maybe they could start a new game. Like Safari! She could use her jump rope to tie Chad's bike to her wagon and they could ride around her backyard like they were in the African wild. She could even put her stuffed animals all over the place and they could imagine they were real!

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

Or maybe they could play pirates! The tree house could pass as a ship, right? The grass would be water that they needed to pretend to swim through when they walked on it. And maybe they could be attacked…

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

Or maybe-

"Sonny? Sonny, did you hear me? What's the answer to the problem?"

Sonny's head jerked up to face the teacher, "Um, what was the question again?"

The teacher smiled, satisfied that she caught a student dozing off. "Twenty three minus seventeen. Pay attention next time."

Sonny's cheeks turned a violent shade of scarlet. "Sorry," she murmured, "It's six."

Sonny managed to pay attention for the rest of class, but she nearly jumped out of her seat when it was finally time to leave. She shoved her homework folder into her backpack along with a textbook and bolted out the door for her bus. She didn't even care that her bag wasn't zipped all the way, or that she had pulled one of her pigtails halfway out while hastily throwing her backpack on her shoulders. She just needed to get out of the school. She needed to see Chad.

Apparently she had been a little too quick though, because when she arrived at her bus, she was the first one there. She sat down in a two-seater in row eight (sitting with a fourth grader meant she could sit closer to the back) and placed her backpack next to her to make sure no one would steal Chad's seat. Not that anyone would try. Seats weren't assigned, but everyone basically sat in the same spot every day.

Soon students began filing into the bus when finally Chad arrived, plopping down right next to Sonny as soon as she moved her bag out of the way.

"So do you have a lot of homework today? I only have math homework, so that'll be easy," Sonny explained eagerly.

"I only have two things, so we can play as soon as we get home," he told her.

Sonny smiled. Today was definitely going to be perfect. "So what are we gonna play? Should we keep playing aliens or save that one for school only. I do have some ideas."

"I got the best idea when we were reading today. The book was about the jungle, so I think we should go on safari."

"I was thinking we should play safari too!" Sonny exclaimed, nearly bouncing out of her seat. It was hard for her to imagine her life back in Wisconsin where there was no Chad and no friends who would play such elaborate games of pretend with her.

"Really? That's awesome! We should play that then."

Just as he finished his sentence, the bus pulled to a halt at their stop. They both got up and Chad let Sonny step in front of him before walking down the aisle of the bus. He vaguely heard a boy in his grade say, "I can't believe Chad hangs out with girls, that's weird," but he decided he was just imagining things and ignored it. After all, Sonny was his best friend. They had a lot of fun together. What was wrong with that?

Once they bus pulled away, they began planning out the new game. Sonny told Chad about her idea to attach his bike to her wagon and to use stuffed animals, while Chad explained to her his plan to use walkie-talkies and a broken camera his mom had given him to play with. They ran off to their houses to swap school supplies for toys and soon their backyards were transformed into a jungle oasis. At least in their eyes it was.

_**Take me back when our world was one block wide**_

__After hours of riding around, taking pictures, getting stuck in various things of nature, and being attacked by animals, it was time for Sonny and Chad to go home. There was dinner to be eaten and homework to be completed. No matter how much they begged, their parents weren't willing to give them a few more minutes.

"See you tomorrow," Sonny said. Though she had tried to get her parents to stay out longer, it was obvious that the little girl was exhausted. Her pigtails were falling out and occasionally a yawn would escape from her mouth.

The next day it was back to school where Sonny's class unfortunately went out earlier than the rest of the school. The teacher said it was so her class would have the playground to themselves for once. Sonny played with a few girls she had become friends with throughout the year, but playing with them couldn't compare to playing with Chad. It didn't end up being a big deal anyway. Chad explained to Sonny about how they didn't go outside for recess that day while they rode the bus.

"The teacher brought in a bunch of new board games so everyone wanted to play inside today."

Sonny shrugged, "Oh. I guess that's fun."

"Not really. Chutes and Ladders is so boring. Isn't it better to go on a real slide? Outside?"

Sonny giggled, "I guess so."

"The kids in my class don't get how much fun outside is, I guess. They don't get the kind of games I play with you."

The bus then pulled to a halted at their stop and they filed off.

"So what are gonna play today?" she asked, tugging on the strap of her backpack.

"I don't know. I don't have any ideas today," he told her, "Do you?"

"I was thinking we can keep playing astronauts since we didn't get to at school today. Unless we just wanna keep that as a school only game."

Chad didn't answer. He just looked down and kicked the grass once while he walked.

Sonny was concerned now. Since when did Chad ignore her? She thought he liked playing astronauts with her. Maybe he just wanted to play a new game.

"If astronauts is getting too boring we can play something else. There's tons of stuff we can do at the playground."

He remained silent.

Now Sonny was worried. Was something wrong? Was he sick? What was going on?

"Chad? Are you okay?" she questioned, her mood changing from cheery and ready to play to serious.

"I gotta talk to you about something," he said glumly, still looking at the ground.

Sonny's heart stopped beating for a split second, and then started pounding. She had heard the phrase before, said by her parents. It always was said when something bad was about to happen. One time it was in kindergarten for yelling at a girl for not playing house with her the way she wanted to play it. She got put in time out at school and home for that. Then there was the most recent time when they gave the "we're moving speech". Moving had turned out to be greater than she ever expected, but it was still a big shock when she first found out. She had just made her first best friend, Lucy, and she hated having to leave her so soon.

"What is it?" she asked nervously.

"The boys in my class… they don't like it when I play with you."

"Why not?"

"They think it's weird. They keep telling me that if I play with girls, than I'm a girl. James even told me that girls have cooties."

Sonny couldn't help but laugh now, "I don't have cooties! I've been playing with you for like, forever now, and nothing's happened. How could I have cooties?"

Chad shrugged, but he still refused to look up. "It's not just yet. They make fun of me. They tell me the only way I can hang out with a girl and not be called a girl is if I make you my girlfriend."

Sonny stayed silent for a moment. She really wanted to play with Chad, but she didn't like that fact that he was being teased. It wasn't fair to him. But girlfriend? The first thing she thought of when she heard the word was "eww". Wasn't that what adults did? Or the teenagers in movies? But then again, she _really_ wanted to keep playing with Chad. What would she do without him?

She hesitated, but then said, "Well, I guess I'll be your girlfriend if it means I can keep playing with you."

Chad finally looked up now. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Then I guess you're my girlfriend now."

Sonny giggled. It sounded so weird hearing that come out of Chad's mouth.

"What?" he asked.

Sonny smiled, "Nothing. It's just that it's funny being called your girlfriend. I have to get used to it. Maybe we should practice being boyfriend and girlfriend today instead of playing a game."

"That's a good idea," he agreed, "I don't really know what to do. Let's go inside and put backpacks away. Maybe our parents know what to do."

"Okay."

The two both parted ways.

When Chad got to his house, he dropped of his bag in his room like usual and then went back downstairs to talk to his mom.

"So how was school today?" she asked him. He sometimes wondered why it was necessary for her to ask that _every_ day. Seriously, the answer never changed.

"Good."

She grinned, picking up a glass and filling it with water from the sink. "That's good. Are you going out to play with Sonny?"

"Yup. But before I go, I gotta ask you something."

"Go ahead," she said before taking a sip of water.

"What do boyfriends and girlfriends do with each other?"

She nearly choked on her water, some of it spilling and soaking the ends of her straight blonde hair. "Why would you need to know that?"

He explained the kids making fun of him at school and how making Sonny his girlfriend was the only way to fix it.

"You know Chad, just because the boys at school are teasing you doesn't mean you have to do what they say. You have to stand up for yourself."

"I know. But this is just easier. Being a boyfriend can't be that hard, right?"

She chuckled. "It depends sometimes. T he key to keeping a good relationship is making sure you keep her happy, because if she's happy, than you should be happy."

"And that's it?"

"That's it."

He was a little confused, but he decided to just go with it. "Well, thanks. Just let me know when I have to come inside again."

He walked outside to find Sonny waiting in the exact spot they were in five minutes ago.

"That was fast," she said.

"How were you so quick?"

"My mom was on the phone when I got inside, so I couldn't talk to her. What did your mom say?"

"She says to be a good boyfriend, all I gotta do is make sure you're happy?"

"Really? That's all?"

He nodded.

"But you do that already! Just you standing here makes me happy." She smiled wide as if to prove her point.

Chad smiled too, once again caught in the contagiousness of Sonny's smile. Maybe his Mom was right. Whenever Sonny was happy, he was happy to. Was that really all there was to a good relationship?

"So what do we do now," he asked her.

"I don't know. We can't just play like we always do at recess, because the boys will think we're still only friends. We gotta show 'em that you're my boyfriend. Maybe we can hold hands or something?" she suggested.

"Yeah, that works," he extended out his hand to her which she grabbed immediately. For some reason it felt so right, holding her hand. "Let's go to the tree house."

They walked together hand-in-hand figuring out all the different ways they could do it. They discovered they could just hold each other's hand normally, or intertwine their fingers, or swing their arms while they walked. Climbing the ladder proved to be difficult while holding hands though, so they stopped in order to get to the top.

They both sat on the floor, backs against the wall, once they got inside.

"So what do we do next?" Sonny asked.

Chad shrugged, "I don't know. I've never had a girlfriend before."

"I've never had a boyfriend."

Silence enveloped them as they mentally thought of how us they could be a "couple" and prove to Chad's classmates they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Both of them kept thinking of the same thing: kissing. It would pop into their minds, and then they would quickly force it out. Did they really want to do _that_? It was gross. But what else were they supposed to do?

Sonny was the one who finally spoke up. "I guess we could… kiss, or something…" She twisted a lock of her brown hair, refusing to look at him.

"I was thinking about that, too…" You could hear the nervousness in his voice, "But do we really wanna do… _that? _What are the kids in my class gonna think of _that_?"

Sonny sighed. Why was this so frustrating?! Why couldn't she just be friends with Chad like she always was? She _hated_ these boys for teasing Chad, but she understood that this was the only way out of it. But then an idea came to her. A way that wouldn't make Chad look like the gross one. Just her. She didn't care, though. The only 4th grader she knew was Chad.

"What if I dared you?"

"What?"

"What if I dare you to kiss me? Then you could kiss me 'cause you don't back out of dares, not because you're gross and like to kiss people."

"Oh. I guess that works, then."

"Okay. Then I _dare_ you to kiss me."

"Are you sure about this?"

She nodded. "I don't wanna lose my best friend. And you can't back down from a dare, right?"

"Alright. So, umm… yeah." They shifted positions so they were facing each other and then started leaning in. She looked directly into his eyes admiring the two pools of blue. But then it hit her how awkward it was staring at person when they were so close.

"Maybe we should close our eyes…" she suggested, leaning back.

"Yeah that's probably a good idea…"

They both shut their eyes and leaning in again. Even though she couldn't see anymore, Sonny could feel that she was closer to him than before. She could feel the heat radiating from his skin and the steady breaths he took. It was all so overwhelming. And she got scared. Just as their lips were about to be, she backed away. Chad kept leaning in until he realized Sonny wasn't there anymore. By the time he opened his eyes, Sonny was on her feet.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Um, well… if you wanna kiss me, you have to catch me first!" With that she ran out of the house onto the porch and down the ladder.

Chad sat there, shocked and confused, but then decided to run after her.

_**I dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried**_

He chased her in circles around the yard. He was pretty fast, but so was she. Eventually their exhaustion caught up with them and Sonny fell to the ground, laughing between breaths. Chad stopped and plopped down next to her. They both laid flat on their backs now, staring at the sky.

_**Just two kids, you and I**_

"Why'd you run away?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was kinda scared."

"Yeah, I was kinda scared too."

"Then why'd you wanna do it?"

Now he shrugged. "I wanted to tell the guys in my class. They'd probably stop teasing me if they knew I was the first one out of all of them to kiss a girl."

"But I thought that you said the kids in your class would think kissing someone was weird? That's why I had to dare you…"

He didn't say anything. He just pondered what she said. He only started to do it because it was a dare, right? He wouldn't have done it if she hadn't dared him. Right?

"I guess I did it because you dared me. And in the end, even if the kids in my class thought kissing you was gross, they'd still have to believe that you were my girlfriend now, and they'd stop making fun of me for playing with you. I'd rather be teased about everything if it meant I could still play with you and now worry about it."

Sonny smiled. "Thanks Chad. Boyfriend or not, you're my best friend."

He looked over at her, and smiled at her smile. "You too." He reached over to her hand and held it. He could tell she was slightly startled by it. "You're still technically my girlfriend, right? We gotta practice for school."

Despite the fact Sonny was convinced that had practiced holding hands with Chad for plenty of time, she didn't let go. It just felt right.

_**Oh My My My My**_

**A/N- What did you think? I had a really hard time writing the "dared you to kiss me and ran when you tried" scene, which is weird because I've been really excited about it. Sorry if they seemed older than there age. I tried to keep them young, but it was hard. Let me know in your review!**


	5. Realization

**A/N- I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! It's been more than a month, I know. But school is still taking over my life. I'll be free on June 24****th**** though, then my updates will be much more frequent :D And as always, this chapter was beta'd by the lovely **_**LostInBelieving**_**! Enjoy the longest chapter yet! **

**Chapter 5**

"Sonny!" her Mom called from downstairs. She was in her bathroom applying eyeliner and her hand jerk, nearly ruining the perfect line she was drawing. "Your breakfast is getting cold! And I think Chad just pulled in the driveway!" Hearing Chad's name make her hand jerk again, this time making a jagged line just under her eye.

"Crap," she muttered, turning on the faucet and wetting a washcloth so she could clean up the mess. It was 7:55 and Sonny was getting ready for school. She was a sophomore in high school and Chad, who was a senior and was allowed to use the school parking lot, picked her up for school every morning. School didn't start until 8:30, but they liked to leave at 8:00, giving them some extra time in the morning to hang out before they were separated for six hours. Their age difference had always been one of the most difficult parts of their friendships.

"Okay, I'm almost done!" she called, rubbing at the makeup with the cloth until it came clean. She reached for the pencil to start over again. She heard a knock on the door, then her mom answering it, then the sound of Chad's voice as he greeted her mother. She couldn't really tell what they were saying, but just hearing his voice made her happy. He was her best friend. It was almost impossible to be sad when he was around.

Suddenly she heard footsteps climbing the stairs. She knew it was Chad coming to say hello. She frantically finished with her eyeliner and started her mascara. She wasn't one to wear too much makeup, but she did like to wear a little bit. The last thing she wanted was Chad to see her with one made-over eye and one natural one.

There was a tap on the bathroom door followed by Chad's voice, "Hey can I come in?"

She quickly swiped some mascara on her second eye and stuck the brush back in the bottle. "Yup. The door's unlocked."

He opened the door and stepped in, not bothering to close it behind him. They'd be leaving soon anyway.

"Good morning," she said, twisting the mascara shut and placing it on her sink.

"You know," he said, "I still don't get why you wear that stuff. You're pretty enough without it."

She smiled and blushed, looking down to hide it, "Thanks."

He smiled back. Nine years later, and her smile was still contagious. "You're welcome. I'm just speaking the truth."

She grabbed her pink-tinted lip gloss and shoved it in the pocket of her jeans. "I just have to eat really quickly and then we can go," she explained, heading for the door. He followed her back downstairs and when she sat down at the table he sat across from her. Sonny picked up a fork and began eating the waffles her mom had set out for her.

"Would you like anything, Chad?" her mom asked, "I have a few extra waffles and there's some juice in the fridge."

He shook his head, "That's alright, I ate before I left. Thanks though." He turned back to Sonny, "So how are you doing with geometry?"

She sighed, "I'm still at a C. I have a test on Friday, but it's the last one of the marking period. I have to ace it if I want a B- as my final grade."

"That's not too bad. You should be able to do that."

She let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah right. Do you know how many theorems and postulates I have to have memorized?"

"Well what if you had an older and much wiser tutor to help you study?" he said, crossing his arms on the table and leaning towards her.

She cocked up her eyebrow, "What makes you so sure of yourself?"

"Well, I did take geometry when I was a freshman. Honors level, actually. And I'm in AP Calculus now. I think I can handle some average level geometry."

She mimicked his action, leaning in towards him, "Alright. If you think you're such a math genius, tutor me. See if you can get me _at least_ an A. I want an A+ though."

"You're on. My house. After school. Bring your math stuff."

"It's a da-deal. It's a deal. " She glanced at the microwave to check the time, "We should probably get going now." She stood up, grabbing her plate and taking it to the sink. Chad got her backpack and handed it to her before they both headed out the door.

"Bye Mom!" Sonny called.

"Have a good day at school!"

Once at school, the two split up to drop their stuff off at their lockers and get their books for the first part of the day. Sonny, whose locker was upstairs, then went back downstairs to hang out with Chad. Sitting against the lockers, they talked for the awhile as they watched the hallways that were nearly empty at first fill with teenagers. With only five minutes left until the home room bell rang, Sonny began to gather up her things.

"You still need a ride after school, right?" he asked.

"Yup. No student council meetings this week. And drama's over now, obviously."

"And I must say that blonde guy with the lead role put on an amazing show during the performance last weekend." He smirked.

She lightly smacked his arm, "Way to be modest."

"Okay, sorry. But if I did a good job, then so did the brunette playing Student 2."

"Thanks," she said.

Just then, a tall girl with long dark hair in loose curls walked by. Her makeup up was slightly overdone and she scowling. She was followed by two others, one with similar dark locks, wearing the same expression, but clearly a different person and another with honey brown hair, straight as a pin, and expression that seemed too sweet to be following the two scowling girls.

"Still hanging out with underclassmen?" the one who seemed to be the leader remarked.

Chad groaned, "Portlyn, not now."

"Actually, I think now's the perfect time. Maybe you can finally show me why you ditched me to hang out with this bitch."

"Takes one to know one," Sonny muttered.

Portlyn turned her head to glare at Sonny for a moment, and then redirected her attention to Chad.

"That's the exact reason I dumped you," he explained, "You come off as this sweet, innocent girl, but as soon as you don't get your way, it's like the angel in you turns into a devil. I'm pretty sure we went over this already, a year ago, when we broke up."

"Ten months ago, actually. And you still haven't answered my question. Why is she better than me?" she crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently, her heels clicking rhythmically against the tile.

"Who said Sonny replaced you? We were best friends before I met you, we were best friends while I dated and you, and we're still best friends now. Case closed."

Sonny smiled proudly and gave Portlyn a look of satisfaction which was returned with another glare. She didn't usually like to cause drama, but Portlyn was so easy to anger. Sonny had exactly what she wanted: Chad. Rubbing it in to someone who was being such a jerk made her feel pretty good.

"Fine. But I know that someday, you will regret this. Especially when you realize you're dateless for senior prom. Goodbye Chad Dylan Cooper. Chastity, Marta, let's go." She walked away followed by her minions, their heels clicking in perfect sync against the tile floor until the disappeared at the end of the hallway.

Chad huffed, leaning his head back so it hit the locker behind him, "I wish she would just get over it and leave me alone."

"Tell me again why you dated her?" Sonny asked.

"I was 16 and stupid. She was hot. "

Sonny laughed, "Well I'm glad you've raised your expectations with girls."

"What about you, any guys that you're looking to date?"

"There is this one guy I've been thinking about, though I don't know if it would work out. But I've got a bigger problem right now. James won't stop trying to get me to go out with him. It's so annoying. It's like he thinks I don't know what he does to girls. He dates them until he finds a girl he thinks is better, and then he dumps them."

Chad shook his head, "He's been at that since fourth grade. I was in fifth grade, but I remember everyone talking about it. That's when I stopped hanging out with him. He spent too much time with girls and didn't want to play with me anymore. Plus, I was with you most of the time." He smiled at the memories and saw her smile too and even noticed a bit of pink flushing her cheeks.

Suddenly a teacher appeared out of the door yelling, "Get to class! One minute until homeroom start!" to the teenagers who were all hanging out in the hallways.

"We better go," Chad said, pulling himself up and then offering a hand to Sonny. She grabbed it and pulled herself up.

"Meet you at your car, right?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yup. Then your house for a geometry study session!"

She groaned, ignoring his chuckle at her misery. "Alright. See you later!" she gave him a quick hug and headed for the stairwell.

Chad picked up his books and walked to his homeroom. He sat down in his seat just as the bell rang and the announcements started. He only half listened as the senior class president announced things like forms due for fall sports and sign-ups for class elections that would take place for next year. He was a senior. None of this stuff mattered. In a month and a half, he'd be done with high school for good.

But then an announcement came on that caught his attention, "Senior prom bids will be on sale during all lunches next week only. You can pick up permission slips for students wishing to attend from others schools at the office."

Realization suddenly struck him and he stopped paying attention to whatever else was being announced: he didn't have a date for prom. Portlyn's words from earlier replayed in his head, "_But I know that someday, you will regret this. Especially when you realize you're dateless for senior prom._" He definitely wasn't feeling any regret for dumping Portlyn, but she did make a point: he had no date for prom. And it wasn't like junior prom where you could just show up with a group of friends. It was find a date or just don't go at all. But skipping wasn't an option. That was just social suicide. But what girl would go with him that didn't already have a date?

_Sonny._

Sonny was a sophomore. Obviously she didn't have a date to prom. But senior prom seemed like a place for _couple_s not _friends_. _But you could be a couple,_ a voice in the back of his head nagged. He shook his head and tried to ignore it. But the thought kept coming back.

_She could be a great girlfriend._

But they were best friends. What if something went wrong? He didn't want to lose girlfriend _and_ a best friend…

…But when he thought about it, she was perfect. He could always to her, she laughed at his jokes, and she was honest with him. He loved every moment they spent together and just seeing her smile made him happy. Even when they were in elementary school, going on their pretend adventures, he loved being with her. Not to mention she was pretty gorgeous for a 16 year old girl.

It was all coming together now. Sonny was _perfect_. All those years he spent dating other girls, waiting for that special one, he was too blind to see that the one he needed was right in front of him. He didn't just like her as a friend. _He loved her._

_**Well I was sixteen when suddenly,  
I wasn't that little girl you used to see**_

His decision was officially made. He would ask her out tonight. He wasn't sure how, or when, but when the time was right, he would know. The possibility of jeopardizing their friendship or the thought that she might not even like him like that was ignored. If anything, he just needed to tell her how he felt. They had always been honest with each other and suddenly stopping that now wouldn't be fair. `

The rest of the day seemed to stretch on forever. His teacher's seemed to have picked their most boring lessons to teach today and he found his eyes constantly moving to the clock and his thoughts constantly drifting towards Sonny. When the bell rang signaling his last period class was over, he nearly ran out the door. At his locker, he randomly grabbed books and stuffed them in his bag, hoping they were the ones he'd need for his homework. Then he made his way to his car.

He threw his backpack into the trunk and then leaned against the passenger door casually, trying to look cool. He spotted Sonny leaving the school shortly after, talking with her friend Tawni who was in a few of her classes. She waved goodbye and then starting heading over to Chad.

"Hey Sonny," he greeted, opening up her door.

"Hey," she said, removing her backpack from her back.

"I'll take that," he told her, taking the bag from her hands and slinging it over his own shoulder. Her face showed that she was surprised by his actions, but she just shrugged and let him be.

"Thanks." He waited for her to slide in before closing her door for her. He then placed her backpack in the trunk and looped around to his side of the car.

"Being chivalrous today, are we?" Sonny questioned, smirking at him as he slid into the car.

"What, I'm not allowed to be nice to a girl?" He turned the key and the car chugged to life.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, I was just taken off guard. You usually don't do stuff like that for me."

"Maybe I just felt like being sterling today. I could totally pull off that knight and shining armor thing, don't you think?" He smiled at her as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"I believe it. You were my perfect knight back when I was seven," she laughed.

He laughed with her, "I'm just tapping back into my childhood."

They spent the rest of the ride home reminiscing on their childhood games from the past; laughing at some of the crazy scenarios they managed to come up with to put themselves in.

When they pulled into Chad's driveway, Sonny noticed something in the backyard that she hadn't thought about in five years. "We should go back in the tree house to study!" she suggested enthusiastically. She unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car, walking farther up the driveway to get a better view.

Chad stepped out of the car and opened the trunk to retrieve their backpacks. "That old thing? Do you think it will hold us? We've gotten a little bit bigger since we last used it," he reminded her.

Sonny put her hands on her hips, "Are you trying to say I'm fat."

With both backpacks now on his shoulder, Chad waved his hand frantically. "No, no! You're perfect," he reassured.

Sonny laughed, "Calm down Chad, I was kidding. But thanks anyway."

"You're welcome. So do you really wanna go up there?"

She nodded, "What could go wrong?"

"Well…"

"Shut up!" she said, playfully shoving him. "C'mon, let's race to the top like we used to. Ready…"

"I don't know…"

"Set…"

"Fine…"

"GO!"

They both took off towards the tree house. Then Chad realized something. "Wait! I'm carrying two backpacks! That's not fair!"

Sonny, who was up ahead, looked back and called, "Too bad!" Then she laughed and kept running.

"Alright then…" Chad muttered to himself and then picked up the pace. Just as Sonny was about to reach the trunk of the tree, Chad grabbed her in a bear hug and spun her around until she was facing opposite the tree and he was the one closest to the tree.

"Hey!" she yelled, trying to sound angry. Her laughter wasn't helping, "That's not fair!"

"Too bad!" he replied, mocking her words from earlier.

He climbed up to the top as fast as he could and then waved at Sonny who was only half way up the ladder, "Woot! I win!"

Sonny pulled herself up to the top and stood next to him. "Well I would have won if _someone _didn't try and strangle me."

Chad laughed. "C'mon, we've got geometry to do, don't we?"

"Fine," Sonny grumbled, shuffling her way from the porch to inside the house. She took a seat at the tiny table.

Chad took a seat across from her, his not even fitting under the table. "Maybe we should sit on the floor," he suggested.

"Agreed."

They made their way over across the room, sitting next to each other against the wall.

"Okay, so what are we learning?" Chad asked.

"Area of shapes," she told him, pulling a bright yellow notebook out of her bag.

Chad snorted, "Haven't you been learning this since like, 4th grade?"

"Did you know what the apothem of a polygon was in 4th grade?"

His amused expression disappeared, "Oh. No."

"And what about all the postulates and theorems that go along with squares and rectangles and rhombuses and all those other shapes?" she added, "Did you learn that in 4th grade?"

"Okay, I'm sorry," he told her, putting his hands up in defense, "Now what are you having trouble with?"

They spent the next hour going over problems and trying to come up with clever ways to remember all of the definitions and rules. Eventually Sonny's head was so filled with information she thought her head might explode and Chad was sick of the subject he thought he was done with freshman year. They decided to take a break before moving on to other assignments. Chad decided this was the perfect opportunity to let Sonny know how he felt.

"So, I've been thinking about what Portlyn was saying today," he started.

Her eyes widened, "Oh no, _please_ don't tell me you're going to start dating _her_ again! She called me a bitch, and I don't even know her!"

Chad laughed, "No, that's not what I meant. I was thinking about when she said I was going to be dateless for Senior Prom."

"You're going to take her to prom?" she exclaimed, "That's practically dating her!"

"No, let me finished," he explained, "I still wanna go to prom, but I don't want to be dateless. So I was wondering if… maybe you'd go with me?" He looked at her hopefully.

Her shocked and angry expression suddenly turned surprised, yet pleased. "Yeah, that would be awesome! Of course I'll go!"

"But that's not all I wanted to ask you," he said, looking down now and twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh. Well, what else is there?"

"Well…"

"C'mon, just ask me! You can't tell me you have something to say and then not say it. That's just cruel."

He took a deep breath, looked straight into her eyes and said, "Okay, well I know this might be kind of awkward if you don't agree with me, but I'm starting to think our friendship is starting to become more than just a friendship. Today I realized that I don't just like you like a sister, but I really like you. And I don't know if you feel the same way too, but I just felt like I needed to tell you and not hide it, because I respect you enough to always tell you the truth. So I'm sorry if I just ruined our relationship right now, but I just needed to tell you. Because I truly do like you. Maybe even love you."

Sonny's facial expression changed yet again, this time to pure shock. Chad just basically admitted he was in love with her. Chad, her best friend. The boy who would always be there for her. The one that was her prince from the first day they met. The one who she always tried to look good for and who'd she chose to hang out with over any other boy at any time. He had seen her at her worst times, yet he never ran away like some boys would. Maybe she did like him all along, but was too afraid to admit it.

Visions of them as a couple began flowing through her head. She saw them holding hand, walking together, and she suddenly wanted to hold his hand like she did when she was little so many years ago. Suddenly she realized just how much she loved spending time with him and how she'd stay with him forever if she could. There was no denying it. She loved him, too.

"I…I think I feel the same way," she admitted.

"You think?" he asked, starting to get slightly disappointed.

"No! I mean… yes. I mean, I don't know. It kind of just hit me now. I feel like the feelings for you were always there, but I never recognized them as being romantic until now. Or maybe I was just denying them all along… I don't know."

"So what does this mean?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet," she told him, "but I'm willing to find out if you are."

His look of disappointment was immediately wiped away. He looked directly in her eyes again and said, "Well, then let's make it official. Sonny Munroe… will you go out with me?"

"Of course I will, Chad Dylan Cooper," she responded with a smile. And just like always, Chad smiled back. His deep blue eyes, Sonny noticed, were sparkling with more joy than she had ever seen them before.

_**But your eyes still shined  
Like pretty lights.**_

One moment she was admiring him, and the next his face was inching towards hers. She barely recognized the surprise of his lips meeting hers as it was overwhelmed with relief, joy, and overall, love. The kiss was sweet, yet passionate at the same. They broke apart after a few seconds, their faces just centimeters a part.

"I've been waiting to do that for nine years," he whispered.

"That's my fault," she said, "I shouldn't have run away when I dared you to kiss me that one time."

He chuckled.

"You do realize we've been dating this whole time? Ever since I was seven and you were nine?"

He was the one with the puzzled expression now, "How do you figure that?"

"We never broke up after you asked me out to impress your friend's at recess," she reminded him.

"Well, now it's officially official. You're my girlfriend and I'm not going to forget this time." As if to prove his point, he cupped her face and brought her in for another kiss. And finally, everything felt right.

**A/N – Yay, Channy! Speaking of Channy, Falling For the Falls airs June 13****th****. Who's excited? I've seriously watched every clip that's been released on YouTube. I can't wait!**

**Also, I have a twitter now. My username is ThisIsBrenn. Link in my profile if you wanna follow!**

**And if you haven't already, check out my music channel! Username is ThisIsBrenn, and there's also a link on my profile.**

**And my blog! Again, link in my profile, lol.**

**So that's it for my advertisements, now would you like to leave me a review?**


End file.
